I rediscovered some silent film footage my grandfather (Opa) took on the migrant ship that he and his family were travelling from Holland to Australia on in 1955. The traditional ship board entertainment of the crossing the Equator ceremony involves tarring and feathering new arrivals to the ship, to test their fortitude. I watched in amazement as I realised the words ‘Australien Future’ had been daubed upon my young migrant father’s chest. The poignant Dutch spelling made me again make the silent, sad connections about the change in attitudes to the new arrivals who wish to join us in this country.

The images I pull out hold some promise for further connections between my own migrant history in parallel with the migration stories of the waders that visit our shores. Migratory birds travel huge distances of thousands of kilometres driven by the basic needs for safety and food, and to be able to reproduce and raise their families in a safe place over the harsh conditions of their breeding grounds.

I hope to raise conversations about attitudes to different migrating people groups and why some birds/people are more vulnerable than others.

This exhibition will be held at the Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland from December 2018 – Jan 2019

To celebrate their first year, Onespace Gallery is excited to launch Onespace Afterimage Editions – a new platform in which they collaborate with artists to create limited edition digital fine art prints.

For the inaugural collection, Onespace has curated an exciting print range which includes a diversity of imagery and concerns by artists:

The William Jolly Bridge will be lit up each evening with artwork projections from the Migratory Birds and Suitcases watercolour works to celebrate the event the End of the Line Festival 1-5th November 2017

‘Deb Mostert’s ongoing interest in themes of collection, memory, and sacredness sees her hunting second hand stores, gift shops and antique centres in search for items that have a past and then presenting them in new stories and images. To celebrate the ‘End of the Line’ festival, Council presents Mostert’s artworks which feature vintage suitcases – a symbol of the travel and migration birds and people take to arrive in Australia.’

This Light Up is organised by Brisbane City Council and curated by CreativeMove.

I’m very happy to have a portrait I made of my friend Riswan selected for this prize.

In our neighbourhood there are many migrants and refugees living in the community. Some live in limbo on temporary protection visas, trying to make themselves at home in a country which may or may not accept them. Some have already wrested out a reluctant acceptance to stay and are settling in to a new way of life. Some, like my family, have been here a generation and feel more Australian than Dutch.

Riswan is a friend, we serve together at our local Salvation Army drop in centre where he has been faithfully helping out every week for the last 4 years. He is seeking asylum from Sri Lanka, wishing to live in freedom from persecution as a Tamil. He came to the studio to sit for me and we chatted about his journey and his hopes for the future. His application to stay has been rejected but he still appeals in the hope he may be accepted.

The Bee eater has become a symbol as I think about our changing attitudes to migrants. Australia has one species (Merops ornatus) which has a close relative in the Bee Eater (Merops philippinus) which migrates through India and Sri Lanka. They look more similar than different.